Model technique chief Ted Curtin seems to be at why secure innovation in snacking is the riskiest transfer you may make.
Washington — I bear in mind sweet cigarettes. Let that sink in for a second — a product actually formed to assist youngsters mimic smoking, stocked on cabinets alongside gumdrops and licorice. We glance again now and wince, however the discomfort is helpful. It’s a reminder that what we settle for as “regular” in any period ultimately seems to be absurd from the following one. The query price asking right now isn’t simply what’s in our sweet, it’s what our sweet may turn into.
Snacking is now not an afterthought between meals. For tens of millions of individuals, it’s the meal, or at the least a vital a part of how they gasoline, decompress, and reward themselves all through the day. Analysis from the Worldwide Meals Data Council persistently reveals that snacking events have elevated, with many People now snacking three or extra instances day by day. Psychological well being, vitality administration, and dietary consciousness are all high of thoughts for contemporary shoppers. And but, within the confection aisle, we’re nonetheless largely promoting treating dressed up in barely cleaner packaging and calling it innovation.
That’s not a method. That’s a stall.
THE SIGNALS ARE ALREADY HERE
The innovation dialog in sweet and snack meals has been dominated for years by ingredient substitution. Swap the excessive fructose corn syrup, take away the bogus dyes, cut back the sugar, add a cleaner label. These had been vital strikes, however they had been primarily defensive. We had been reacting to what shoppers didn’t need slightly than constructing towards what they really want.
The subsequent wave of indicators tells a extra formidable story. Have a look at what’s already on cabinets and gaining traction: CBD gummies repositioned as day by day wellness rituals, electrolyte chews carried by endurance athletes, mushroom sweets promising cognitive readability, melatonin candies marketed as sleep aids, and collagen bites sitting beside protein bars within the well being part. These usually are not area of interest merchandise for area of interest shoppers. They’re proof of idea for a completely new class: sweet as a useful supply system.
To dig deeper and push our pondering previous the standard three-year innovation horizon, Prodigy Works tapped into its international community of high-IQ and inventive thinkers to determine the most important shifts, probably the most impactful tendencies, and the adjustments in what or how we devour treats.
The structure is straightforward and highly effective. As one of many Prodigies put it: “Sugar turns into the ‘service’ for dietary supplements, nutritional vitamins, and nootropics. Youngsters get immune-boosting lollipops. Adults seize stress-relief caramels.” Whenever you reframe the confection not because the product however because the automobile, the artistic and industrial prospects develop dramatically.
“Higher for you” has turn into a class so diluted it barely registers. A product with 20 p.c much less sugar and a inexperienced leaf on the packaging shouldn’t be a metamorphosis, it’s a trim. True better-for-you innovation in sweet means rethinking what the sweet is doing for the particular person consuming it.
Good Sweets and Joyride have demonstrated that plant-based and fiber-based sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit, allulose, and tapioca fiber can ship the feel and satisfaction shoppers affiliate with their favourite treats. Even legacy giants like Reese’s have entered the zero-sugar enviornment. However the sweetener swap is desk stakes now. Manufacturers that may lead within the subsequent decade are asking a more durable query: What if sweet actively contributed to your wellbeing slightly than simply not harming it?
Think about the morning commuter reaching for a spotlight chew earlier than a giant presentation. The school pupil managing test-week anxiousness with a chilled gummy. The weekend warrior who grabs a restoration sweet after a future. These aren’t fantasy client profiles, they’re logical extensions of habits that’s already occurring with dietary supplements, vitality drinks, and useful drinks. The sweet format, with its inherent portability, palatability, and psychological reward affiliation, is arguably higher suited to those moments than a capsule or a shake.
PERSONALIZATION: THE NEXT FRONTIER
The homogenized sweet bar that includes the identical components for each client in each market shouldn’t be lengthy for this world. Personalization is reshaping classes from skincare to vitamin to streaming, and confection is not going to be immune.
We’re already seeing the early indicators: M&M’s with customized logos and faces, 3D-printed candies at specialty outlets and festivals, Coca-Cola experimenting with AI-designed taste profiles. These are novelty performs right now, however they level towards infrastructure that may ultimately turn into accessible and scalable. Think about a sweet kiosk expertise akin to a Starbucks order — “further bitter, strawberry-yuzu, with a glitter end” — producing a product dialed to your precise sensory choice. Or a subscription service, modeled on what Swedish manufacturers like Bon Bon and Sockerbit have carried out with selection curation, however personalised to your dietary wants, taste affinities, and even temper profile.
As AI turns into extra deeply embedded in client relationships, and acceptance of AI-driven personalization continues to develop, the chance to tailor not simply the product however your complete model relationship to the person client turns into very actual. Personalization at this stage isn’t only a function; it turns into a loyalty mechanism in contrast to something the confection class has beforehand tried.
SUSTAINABILITY ISN’T A NICE-TO-HAVE ANYMORE
There’s a generational shift underway in how shoppers relate to the environmental influence of what they devour. For youthful cohorts particularly, the guilt related to sweet is now not nearly sugar, it’s in regards to the footprint. As certainly one of our innovation consultants framed it: “Sweet guilt shifts from ‘sugar crash’ to ‘eco-crash.’”
We’re already seeing plant-based gummies shifting away from gelatin, upcycled cacao husk being included into chocolate manufacturing, and early experiments with edible wrappers. These are encouraging begins, however the usual for what qualifies as environmentally accountable continues to rise. Compostable packaging, carbon-neutral manufacturing commitments, and clear sourcing are shifting from differentiators to baseline expectations. Manufacturers that haven’t constructed sustainability into their innovation roadmap, not as a advertising layer however as an operational dedication, will discover themselves more and more uncovered because the market matures.
And there’s nostalgia to work with right here, too. Vitamin-infused sweet buttons. Naturally flavored gummies in heritage shapes. The flavors and codecs that outlined childhood, rebuilt with the elements and the values that right now’s client can really stand behind. Nostalgia and innovation usually are not opposites. Essentially the most highly effective product tales discover a strategy to honor each.
CANDY AS EXPERIENCE, CONTENT, COMMUNITY
Another dimension that the static innovation playbook missed solely: in 2026, sweet doesn’t simply have to style good. It must be price speaking about.
TikTok has already demonstrated {that a} product’s cultural forex, its skill to generate content material, spark dialog, and journey by way of social networks, is as commercially vital as its style profile. Sweet hacks involving dipping, freezing, and layering have pushed monumental natural attain for manufacturers that did nothing to engineer them.
Think about what occurs when manufacturers lean into interactivity deliberately: AR-enabled packaging that unlocks video games or experiences, candies engineered to shift taste mid-chew, thriller format releases that operate as shareable occasions. Consuming sweet turns into content material. The wrapper turns into a portal. The product turns into a dialog starter.
This isn’t frivolous. It’s a recognition that consumption is social, that id is expressed by way of what we select, and that the confection manufacturers of the longer term will probably be neighborhood builders as a lot as product producers.
THE COST OF PLAYING IT SAFE
Right here’s the laborious fact for anybody main innovation on this area: secure shouldn’t be secure anymore. The patron who grew up consuming sweet cigarettes is now a father or mother making intentional selections about what comes into their house. Their children are rising up in a world the place wellness tradition, environmental consciousness, and digital expertise are the baseline, not the bonus. The sweet that merely tastes good and is available in a enjoyable form is competing in an more and more crowded, more and more commoditized area.
The chance in entrance of us is genuinely extraordinary. A format with common attraction throughout demographics, deep emotional associations, exceptional portability, and an inherent reward mechanism now positioned on the intersection of useful vitamin, personalised expertise, and sustainable consumption. That isn’t a class in decline. That may be a class ready for manufacturers with the braveness to cease optimizing yesterday’s playbook and begin writing a brand new one.
Sweet has all the time carried out one thing for us. The query now’s whether or not manufacturers will probably be formidable sufficient to let it do extra.
Contributor Information: Ted Curtin is an innovation and model technique chief recognized for pushing boundaries, accelerating development, and driving transformative innovation success for a number of the world’s best-loved manufacturers. He may be reached at ted@tedcurtin.com.
